Home
by LoveIsAlwaysLouder
Summary: Travis decides to pay Katie a little visit at her fathers house after the Giant war
1. Chapter 1

There are so many other fics that I should be updating right now…. Oh well.

( im sorry If you followed and you got a notification for this chapter again, I have to fix an error…so I will be extra embarrassing if there are still errors after this.

Chapter 1

Travis wasn't exactly sure why he was standing in the middle of the street of a residential area in Washington State, but he knew that he was exactly where he needed to be. It was the end of June, only a little under a month since the end of the Giant war. Needless to say there weren't many demi gods that still held a wanderlust for traveling anymore. The trip to the ancient lands had wiped everyone of that desire. Yet here he stood nearly three thousand miles from his home on half-blood hill, wondering hopelessly through the streets of this damn Seattle suburb, searching for a place he wasn't even positive existed at this point. Three days on a bus and a quick Google search at an internet café in about a hundred miles from camp, had led him here.

Camp had re-opened about a week before his departure. The repairs from the battle with the Romans, had taken far longer than expected, and they been relocated to the Roman camp until their own was ready to sustain them again. A few half-bloods (himself and his brother Connor included) had been sent on quests to help settle some of the chaos that had been created elsewhere. The Stoll brothers, as well as a few older members of the Hermes cabin had been working with a few of the Hephaestus campers to smooth over the events that had taken place in Europe , and after a few weeks there, Travis couldn't wait to be home, and yet the first thing he did when he got there… was leave.

A lot had happened between him and Katie Gardner over the years, but those events seemed miniscule compared to what had happened between them since the start of the Giant war. Travis had been 11 when he arrived at half-blood hill, Connor, only 10 months younger, birthday was fast approaching. They had been claimed the moment they stepped into the magical boarders, and event they were told, that was extremely rare. Walking into the Hermes cabin for the first time reminded him a lot of the dorm he had shared with a dozen other boys back at his boarding school in New Mexico. There were beds everywhere, clothes thrown all over the rafters, balled up wrappers strewn across the floor, but un like the dorm back at school, Camp actually felt like home.

It was always a cycling presence in the Hermes cabin, a new group of undetermined members floated in throughout the year. Some stayed for a few days, a few weeks, maybe a month. But others…. Others stayed forever, and became a permanent fixture in the Hermes residence.

It was a full year after the Stolls arrived, that Katie Gardner showed her pretty face at camp. A cute little 12 year old plucked from a green house in New Jersey after an attack by an Orthrus . She had been handed a camp tee-shirt and a sleeping bag and shoved into the Hermes cabin. As if to say,

_There you go kid, hope you don't end up a reject like the rest of them._

Luke had patted her on the back and pointed her toward one of the only empty places of the cabin floor, right by the Stoll brothers shared bunks. She was only there three days before the glowing symbol of Demeter, a torch, appeared over her head, and a crop a fresh flowers laced themselves into her braid.

Despite the fact that Travis hadn't plucked up enough courage to speak to Katie in the few days that they slept only a few feet from each other, he somehow found himself leaning against the door frame of the empty cabin while the rest of its occupants were sitting happily around the campfire singing songs and laughing along with everyone else in camp, as Katie rolled her sleeping bag up as quickly as she could with her hands shaking the way they were , and a brilliant smile that hadn't left her face since she'd been claimed. Travis clenched his fists, trying to ignore just how dry his mouth felt, and praying his voice wouldn't shake when he tried to speak.

" Daughter of Demeter huh? I should have guessed it, I mean Katie **Gardner**? Your mom must really have a type." He allowed a smirk to spread across his face as Katie stood, pulling her sleeping bag up with her.

"Travis **Stoll**, right? Son of the God of thieves? Guess my mom isn't the only one." She slung her sleeping bag over her shoulder, walking confidently past him, knocking against his shoulder as she went, and skipping over to her new family at Demeter cabin, a pink daisy falling out of her hair as she ran. After the rest of the campers began to shuffle back from Campfire, he scoped the daisy up off the dirt path, and I was that moment that he knew she would be a whole lot of trouble.

Their rivalry had been playful at the start. That first summer they had both had some…..interesting acne. It had started with Travis filling her bottle of presubscription cream with the mayonnaise he had snuck into camp from the store a few miles down the beach. The following evening, Travis's own bottle was filled with hair removal cream, and he arrived at breakfast the next morning missing both his eyebrows, the summer after, When they had both gotten massive sunburns and heat exhaustion after an all-day beach volley ball match between their two cabins, which had riddled down to only the two of them, battling one on one, long after everyone else had braked for dinner. It had eventually ended with Travis's defeat, when the….. Changes in Katie's body over the past year distracted him a little too much, and her return spike smacked straight against his head, sending him to the ground, and his younger brother (whom had been sitting on the side line for the past few hours) into a fit of laughter.

The following summer, Katie had been promoted to head consoler after an unfortunate ending to a quest on the east coast. She became a full time camper after that, working almost around the clock, not only in the strawberry fields, but training with the other cabins, building up her strength.

It was her first Easter at the camp, when the Stoll brothers started up their feud again. Katie and the rest of the Demeter campers woke that morning to the sounds of shouting, and the clatter of feet against their roof. She dashed outside to find, every camper under the age of 13 (and a few select older) on her cabins grassy roof, fighting over chocolate bunnies and colorful eggs. The Stoll brothers were on the small front porch of their cabin (killing themselves laughing) Travis glanced up, winking at Katie, before falling to the ground next to his brother sinking back into laughter. Neither cabin was safe after that, it once took the Hermes cabin 4 hours to untangle and slash through all the vines that trapped them inside their cabin while they slept, and the Demeter cabin still smelled faintly of laundry detergent from when it had been filled with bubbles on new year's eve.

Sure they had their arguments. Someone may have accused some one of being a spy for the Titan lord and all that but that behind them now.

During the Roman invasion, before the camp evacuated to the safety of bunker 9, they had fought side by side after being cornered together on the Hephaestus cabin roof, reading each other's movements and timing their strikes accordingly. It was Katie after all, who dragged Travis into the woods after he was knocked unconscious by a scrawny blonde boy with teddy-bears strapped to his waist.

Their dynamic was different after that; they did their best to keep things light hearted as they traveled towards the ancient lands along with the rest of the camp, pulling a few harmless pranks on one another along the way.

It was the day of the battle when something finally snapped in Travis. The head consolers were all gathered around each other, discussing battle strategies and formations. After a few minutes the majority of the other cabin leaders dis-burst, and began shouting orders to the assembled troops, Katie turned her back on him to do the same, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, whirling her back around and pressing his lips firmly against her own. Travis broke away, leaving his face only millimetres from her own before whispering

"Just in case"

and running off towards his brother, who was standing in the distance, mouth wide open looking just as shocked as Katie felt. She hadn't been sure of what he meant by "just in case" at first but once the battle began, it became much clearer. The battle raged on all day through the night and on into the morning, and more blood was shed in that time than in both Titan wars combined. After the battle was ended and the survivors were tucked up in their beds, and she cleared her mind of every horrible image that had been racing through her mind, Katie put her fingers to her lips and wondered just how long Travis had been waiting to do that and if he would have if he hadn't thought one of them wouldn't make it till morning.

He hadn't seen her since the campers had disrupts the morning after the battle. When orders had been given out, and missions received. Travis was sent to repair Rome; while Katie had been placed with a few others from her cabin, along with many from Athena, too remained in Greece to undo the tragedy they had caused there.

He had hoped to see her when camp was finished, in fact his brother had been teasing him about it since the end of the war, poking him in the stomach and pinching his checks whenever he got a faraway look in his eye that meant he was thinking about the Demeter daughter.

He had been worried at first (which he would of course deny) , when they arrived back at camp and she wasn't there. The rest of the members of her expedition had been tucked up safely in their newly build Cabins, but it was Miranda who attended the consoler meeting in Katie's place. All had been explained after several agonizing minutes of Travis imaging every possible way in which Katie could have died, before Miranda announced that she would be head of the Demeter cabin until Katie's return at the end of the month.

He cornered her after the meeting, and it took the promise of a flat of vanilla coke to shake any information out of Miranda, and all he got was a single lousy word. _Home_

And that was how he ended up here, wondering around what he hoped was Katie's neighbourhood in the blazing sun, his orange camp tee-shirt sticking to his back from sweat, and his shoulders aching from the weight of his duffel bag, but the sight of a single house made his heart leap.

It was sunshine yellow, with green scalloped awnings over each window and a 10 foot hedge surrounding the lawn, decked in tropical flowers that clearly weren't indigenous to the area. He strode up to the gate and placed his hand on it, taking a deep breath before pushing it open.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

From the second Travis hands came in contact with the metal gate thick ivy wrapped around his hands, gripping his wrists in a vice like embrace. Thorns shoot into his skin, as the vine squeezed the life out of his hand. He cried out, but just as quickly as the plants had appeared around his wrist, they were gone, receding back to their peaceful place wrapped around the gates long bars. He watched in amazement, as the welts the vines had made in his skin puffed back out to their original shape, and the large puncture marks made by the thorns closed up, leaving only small marks of dried blood on his wrists.

Travis shook his head in amazement, before hesitantly pushing on the gate, which had creaked open since the last time he touched it. Thankfully, no other greenery attacked him as he moved to passed, and through the entrance and onto the walk way of the houses front garden. He supposed he shouldn't be surprised at the magnitude of the flowers and pleasantry along the grounds of the yellow house. Bright blues and purples popped out from every window box and flower pot, a fountain bubbled in a small out cove next to the stone steps that led up to a great rounded oak door a large golden door knocker in the shape of a dog's head smack in the middle. He thought it a rather peculiar decoration, before remembering something about Demeter and domesticated animals. He was about to make his way up to the door and rap loudly and confidently against that ridiculous golden retriever head until Katie opened the door.

He took several steps across the lawn, before noticing the trellis half way down the walk way that he assumed led to a back garden. A light pink and white flower grew along a vine that wrapped all around the wrought iron structure. He winced for a seconded, touching a finger to his wrist without even thinking about it.

But she was just….there.

Dead heading the little flowers that had fallen limp against the metal and turned a sad lifeless brown color. Her hair was in the same braid that it almost always resided in, small white flowers poked out of the spaces between each section of hair, and he smiled a little at all the times he had tugged on that same braid on his way past her at camp, even all tied up like that it still feel to the middle of her back, and he had never been able to pass up the perfect opportunity to his advantage.

He changed directions, sauntering towards Katie. Her back still turned to him, and he could see the wires of what he assumed to be head phones poking out of the side of her head. Before he could lose his nerve he came up right behind her, taking hold of her braid and giving it a light tug.

She startled, dropping the pruning sheers she had been holding in her hand, but in that same moment she regained her composure whirling around, grabbing at something at her waist. In a flash of silver, Travis felt a sudden sharp pain in his right arm, and a hot liquid began to gush down his arm.

" Travis?" Katie stood in front of him, a pair of what appeared to be bloody kitchen scissors in her hand. She yanked her head phones from her ears.

"What in the gods names are you doing here?" Her eyes widened as she saw the damage she had done to his arm.

"You stabbed me!" He exclaimed, and exaggerated look of betrayal spreading across his face, while his eyes glinted with the prospect of this new game and utter amusement. The shock on her face disappeared and was instantly replaced with exasperation. She rolled her eyes.

"Oh please, that's a paper cut at most." Travis fanned dizziness, swaying backward and forwards, stumbling as he tried to walk. Katie let out another sigh before taking the elbow of his non injured arm and dragging him forward, along the little pathway and to the back of the house.

There was a large covered porch, which looked out to the vast garden that lay just beyond it. He saw large zucchinis and tomatoes growing off mammoth plants, and beans winding up tall wooden posts.

Katie led him up the porch steps and pushed him towards a wicker chair, which was heavily padded with plush sun faded cushions.

" Sit." She ordered, and she headed towards the screen door that lead into the house, and disappeared within it. As soon as she opened the door, three large dogs came hurtling out of it, straight towards Travis. He braced himself for the impact, but all three of the mammoth beasts, came to a complete stop right in front of him. Their deep dark brown eyes bore into his own with an expectant eagerness. Their mouths hung open, tongues sticking out, tails wagging.

The screen door opened again, and Katie emerged, holding a small plastic bag, a damp cloth, and a lump of navy fabric.

"Here" Katie flung the little bag at him, which he used his good arm to catch and tearing the bag open with his teeth. The sweet smell of ambrosia reached him, as he plopped the square into his mouth, munching down on it. Katie pulled another chair up in front of his own, wrenching his injured arm out of his grasp and wiping away the blood that had flooded around his arms and soaking into the bottom of his camp shirt.

" You know you never answered my question." She stated as she continued to wipe the blood of his arm. Travis was finding it hard to focus. It had been a long time since he had rested properly and the mixture of the ambrosia and mid-day sun had given him such a deeply warm feeling, that the only thing he could focus on was Katie's face in front of him and the feeling of one of the dogs drool soaking through his jeans.

"Hmm?"

" You. What are you doing here?" Her voice was a little impatient, but not as harsh as she had been before.

" Oh you know" He started, sloughing down a little more in the chair.

" Just in the area, thought I'd drop by."

"In the area? Why the hades would you be in the area?"

"Just visiting family-"

"Who all live in New Mexico? It's not really considered in the area when you have to travel a thousand miles out of your way." He sighed.

"What do you want me to say her Katie? That I came to see you? Because I did. That I missed you? Because….because I do." Katie took in a sharp breath, holding it for a moment before pushing away from her chair and standing. She scooped down, and tossed Travis the lump of navy fabric, which he soon discovered to be a t shirt.

" I'll throw your shirt in the wash." She stated, folding the cloth, now soaked in Travis blood and throwing it through the open door.

He stood, stripping off his orange camp shirt and pulling on the one Katie had handed him. He glanced over at her, smirking at the way she so deliberately looked away from him. He held his surly ruined t shirt in his hand, and patted the head of one of the dogs who still stood by his side, staring at the back of Katie's head and wondering, just what to do next.


End file.
